GT-1000CORE Multi-effects Processor Review

Shrinks your rig while sounding awesome

Boss has crammed a ton of functionality into this very compact but powerful pedal. I'm a digital multi-effects sort of guitarist and was looking for an upgrade from my old faithful Boss ME-70, and am extremely pleased with this unit. Everything I have to say about it now having used it live for a bit is positive: The unit is sturdy and up to live gigs, the amp sims sound great,… read more the individual effects sound great, I've never encountered any sort of CPU limit, and the graceful transition between patches that preserve delay and reverb tails is delightful. I absolutely love how small and compact this pedal is, it is easy to throw onto a larger pedalboard and combine with other analog or unique pedals in a hybrid setup. I think this is where this pedal really shines, acting as a solid foundation that supports other pedals in your chain to form a compact but complete rig. I'm actually impressed how easy it is to create patches directly on the unit itself once you get the hang of it, despite such a small screen, which is what I usually do. You can also use the software over USB, but I found the software to be slightly clunky and slow and so not obviously better than editing on the unit. It isn't too hard to rearrange pedals in the signal chain, set up splits and joins, and edit parameters. Visualizing the entire chain isn't the easiest, but it hasn't ever caused me any difficulty when making or editing a patch. If I had one complaint about the patch editing, it is that all the effects blocks are fixed, so you can't "remove" blocks from your chain to make it cleaner to visualize even if you have them disabled. I get why they did it this way, but I wish it was possible. The new GX-100 allows you to do this, for example, but that's because it has a much larger screen that makes that sort of thing possible. The fixed nature of the effects blocks also means that you can't stack a bunch of the same effect to one patch, even if it were theoretically within the capability of the processor. You can only use as many copies of the same effect that Boss pre-created for you. Usually this isn't a problem since many effects have 3 or 4 blocks available, except for reverb (understandable since reverb is a computationally expensive effect). The quality of most of the effects are very good; there are many of your typical Boss and Roland algorithms for overdrive, chorus, and delay present here, many of which sound reasonably close to the original pedals they might be emulating. I wasn't overwhelmed by the quality and selection of reverbs, though the ones available aren't bad at all and get the job done without issue. To be fair I'm kind of obsessed with reverb though and expecting something super fancy out of a multi-effects unit isn't really fair, since it needs to support processing many other effects at the same time. Another critique I might offer is that the available effects isn't all that diverse. The effects blocks primarily consist of your bread-and-butter effects, such as compressors, overdrive, delay, reverb, tremolo, etc. These are of course essential effects, and there's lots of nice variation and tweakable parameters for these, but there's a distinctive lack of "boutique effects" that some other multi-effects might also offer as a sort of bonus, such as filters, synths, polyphonic harmony, etc. It would also be nice to see something like a mod matrix in a multi-effects pedal, but that might be too much to ask. Most of this is a minor issue, since you're probably getting this to replace a handful of bread-and-butter dedicated pedals anyway, and the small size of this unit allows you to add more exotic effects to your pedalboard as separate pedals. By the way, you can run said external pedals through the stereo FX loop. Nice! Some things to note: I have not used the looper on here as I have a dedicated looper for that, though I was generally not impressed as I usually am with loopers on most multi-effects units which tend to be tied to a patch and very limited. I also primarily use it in patch mode ("memory mode") since that suits my workflow of preparing specific patches ahead of time, so I can't speak to how well the pedalboard mode works. I imagine having only three stompswitches would be a bit limiting for this purpose, and the bigger GT-1000 unit would likely be better if you want to use it this way. All these minor critiques are more of suggestions on how an already awesome pedal could've been a legendary one, and don't really affect my positive experience. Overall I am extremely pleased with this awesome bit of gear, and expect to see it remain on my pedalboard for many years to come.

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Simply Amazing!

This little unit packs a lot of punch however, there are some caveats! First of all, if you're running through an amp, plug into the Return! The front end on most amps will color the sound and it will be nothing like what the model should be. I ran into this with my Orange Crush Pro 60 watt. I was having issues finding tone settings on the amp that worked and it was just not happening.… read more Once I plugged into the Return, it came alive! The models, AIRD and controls came alive. Also, by doing this, you'll have a better idea of what it will sound like when plugging into a board. This unit has such deep editing, you will want to use the Tone Studio app. That being said, with a little practice, you can definitely make edits directly on the unit and save/store them. It requires some studying/practice. There are three documents available for this unit; the main manual, the patch list/description and the Parameter list. The parameter list is just that, it lists every parameter for every possible patch/effect/amp so you know exactly what it does. The unit is all steel, the knobs have a great feel to them, the display is easily readable and there are plenty of inputs/outputs, 2 separate loops, jacks for ext. switches/expression pedals as well as MIDI I/O. I can't say enough about this unit. It fits in my small bag that I use for carrying my goodies like cords, straps, tablet, etc. It would probably fit in a regular gig bag if it had a big enough pocket. The existing 3 switches are configurable to do whatever you want them to do...switch amps, switch effects on/off, step through patches, enable solo mode, etc. I ordered the Boss dual footswitch just to add some versatility but with some planning, you can get by with just the 3 existing switches. The tones are what you would expect for presents but I have to say, they're not over-exaggerated like many presets, that is as long as you use the return on your amp. If you plug into the front end, then the preamp will definitely color your sound and it's going to vary greatly depending on your amp. I got a floor model and it came to me in perfect condition, with all packaging, manuals, etc. If you're looking for something that's compact yet still packs the power and great tones of larger modern units, you can't go wrong.

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Wow!

I went from being a tube amp snob to swearing by this device! I had originally got it to use the effects with a Morningstar MC8 to control the presets into a tube amp. I started messing around with the preamp tones and wow! Its great. I use it with the cab sims off, into a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 200, then into a 2x12 cab (sometimes 2 2x12s stacked). I will say the difference… read more between Boss GT-1000 and the more expensive modelers like Axe Fx and Kemper that I noticed, are that they seem to be easier to get show quality tones. Versus on the GT-1000 it took me a couple hours of tweaking to get a tone that matched dead on to the Tubemeister 36 that I generally use live. I still love and use tube amps but at the end of the day your average listener can't tell the difference and thats what really matters.

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Solid All-In-One or Processor

I'd like to start this review off by saying the stock presets in this unit are good, & I can't say that of every preamp/processor out there; very useable. I do withthiswas a 19" rack unit, but I just bought a sliding shelf for it. I like how you can add pedals to the signal chain; very intuitive. This makes a great mobile rig or recording solution. 32-bit effects are a nice improvement… read more from 24-bit. Solid choice for anyone looking for an all-around solution or to supercharge their effects section of a setup.

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Does it all

I've been looking to downsize my peddle board, and gear, and the GT-1000 core gave me that opportunity. This device does more than I thought it would. I play electric and acoustic guitar and run them both through this device. The electric guitar goes to my amp, and my acoustic guitar goes to the PA. No more A/B/Y box or cable switching. The sounds are rich and full, and you can… read more probably dial in any tone you want. There's a bit of a learning curve to really understand what this thing can do, but that's because you can do just about anything. This thing fits well on my peddle board, and looks great.

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